Blackbirdan online journal of literature and the artsSpring 2008 Vol. 7 No. 1
CLAUDIA EMERSON

Headmaster

He rocks up onto the balls of his feet‚
clears his throat to lead the assembly

with a voice more familiar than their fathers’‚
brothers’, those distant as only kin can be. The girls

surround him‚ the youngest sitting on the floor‚ close
enough to notice in his loafers the clean‚

empty slits where the pennies are supposed to go.